MEANWHILE, BACK IN IRAQ...

(This is just a short break from GOP hypocrisy and corruption)

Little Progress Seen on Iraq Goals
Aug 29, 9:15 PM (ET)
By MATTHEW LEE and ROBERT BURNS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional auditors have determined that the Iraqi government has failed to meet the vast majority of political and military goals laid out by lawmakers to assess President Bush's Iraq war strategy, The Associated Press has learned.

The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, will report that at least 13 of the 18 benchmarks to measure the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq are unfulfilled ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline for Bush to give a detailed accounting of the situation eight months after he announced the policy, according to three officials familiar with the matter.


MSNBC reports that the WH is already spinning on this report, claiming that the GAO's criteria are too strict. From this AP report, we learn that Fred "War Whore" Kagan isn't impressed with the GAO's report:

Pentagon: Officers may differ on Iraq
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Wed Aug 29, 6:25 PM ET

Fred Kagan, a military historian at the American Enterprise Institute and a vocal supporter of Bush's troop buildup and wants it sustained well into 2008, said Wednesday the GAO report is likely to offer little news since it is already known the Iraqis have met few of the benchmarks.

The AP link goes to Yahoo so it will die in a bit but McClatchy has a report that I think will be available a little longer.

Pentagon won't make surge recommendation to Bush
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007

WASHINGTON — In a sign that top commanders are divided over what course to pursue in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it won't make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month's strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations.

"Consensus is not the goal of the process," Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. "If there are differences, the president will hear them."

Morrell said that those making presentations to the president would include Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for U.S. military actions in the Middle East, Army Gen. George Casey, the chief of staff of the Army, and Petraeus. In addition, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will share his opinion with the president.

The McClatchy story leaves out this crucial piece from the Pentagon press briefing by Geoff Morrell that's in the AP story:

Morrell was asked whether U.S. officials are considering whether they will need to send U.S. or other coalition troops to the Basra area of southern Iraq when British troops leave in the months ahead. The spokesman said he was unsure but assumed the coalition would have to "adjust accordingly."

Morrell made clear that U.S. officials are concerned about instability in southern Iraq, where rival Shiite militias are competing for political, military and economic power.

"These are, sort of, almost Mafioso kind of situations where people are trying to carve up the pie and who controls the moneymaking businesses and ventures down there," he said. "But it's ugly, and it's a problem, and we are concerned about it, and hopefully the British will continue to work hard on it."


This is pretty much what Anthony Cordesman recently wrote about southern Iraq. What about northern Iraq? Not so good...

U.N. reports cholera outbreak in northern Iraq
(CNN) -- More than 2,000 Iraqis in the northern part of the country have contracted cholera, U.N. officials said Wednesday, citing local authorities.

The outbreak is thought to be the result of poor water quality, the U.N. officials said.
"Local authorities report that over 2,000 people have been affected so far by the outbreak, with five deaths reported and 500 patients admitted to hospital with severe diarrhea within the last two days alone," said the U.N. Children's Fund, or UNICEF.

Forty-seven cases have been confirmed as epidemic cholera, but the number is expected to grow, said UNICEF, which has rushed emergency aid to the affected area.

The outbreak has hit the Sulaimaniya province and the nearby Kirkuk region in northern Iraq.
"Although the outbreak is largely affecting adults, children are at extremely high risk," UNICEF said.

Cholera is a bacterial ailment that affects the intestinal tract. The disease is contracted by consuming contaminated water. Only 30 percent of the population in Sulaimaniya has an adequate water supply, according to local reports, and "many people have been reduced to digging shallow wells outside their own homes," UNICEF said.